


Seen

by RaytheFae



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Family, Fluff, Just Two Monsters Being Weird Together and Thats Valid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24116449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaytheFae/pseuds/RaytheFae
Summary: Jon has a conversation with The Child now in his and Martin's care.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, implied
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	Seen

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely self indulgent but I hope a few of you like it.

Appearances could be deceiving. 

Not for Jonathan Sims, though, he could See through most things. Right now, though, he was keeping one of his many mental eyes out for the child that was now wandering his and Martin’s home, and the other on Martin, busy in the office, calling in contacts and favors. Jon was unpacking one of their many boxes. 

Martin was in the office room, on the phone, trying to arrange something more permanent than their home. Jon hardly thought he was a good role model after all, Eye-affiliated monster that he was. 

It wasn’t a proper home yet, but after they’d found her, Martin had insisted, and he agreed, that a flat in London near his Archives wasn’t the best place to care for a child. They may have to take care of her for a long time, after all, before a more suitable family could be found. He and Martin had planned on buying a proper home eventually anyways. 

Jon frowned as he finished unpacking the box and moved onto another one, this one full of Martin’s records and record player. His mind wasn’t on where to put these or how to organize them.  
The child was a problem. Not that most children weren’t, and it wasn’t her fault.  
The issue was that the child, this little girl, was an Agnes-type. Born as an Avatar, and of all things to be an avatar of-  
He looked at his door just as the little girl wandered in. She had no name, still, she said she’d never had one and seemed rather distressed when pressed on the matter, even two weeks after rescuing her from the ruins and cadavars of the cult of the Nameless's headquarters. They hadn't expected the cult to already be destroyed, or to find a quite alive, very supernatural, little girl there. 

She was quiet, pale, with long inky black hair and bangs that almost covered her gray eyes. It was hard to remember what she looked like, even with his Sight, as her face was perfectly generic, as if every stock photo of every little girl was averaged together. It was rather uncanny.  
Though, as a born avatar of the Stranger, it was hardly surprising. 

“You keep following me.” She said timidly. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No, no, of course not, and I’ve been here this entire time, er...you.” He cringed. They really needed to find a name for her. 

“You’ve been here the entire time.” She repeated, using his exact cadence and intonation. Was it mockery? He had no way of telling. “Your eyes were not here the entire time.” She repeated with the same intonation and cadence, only changing a few words, like a mashed together sentence. 

Jon couldn’t read her perfectly generic expression, but he Knew she was upset, and also...oh.  
She was scared.  
Idiot, he should have realized. Of course being *known* was upsetting to her. He’d only been taking care of her for a day and he’d already managed to start traumatizing her.  
Stopping an apocalypse and saving the world was easy for a monster, compared to trying to care for a child. 

“I...apologize.” he said, sincerely. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“It doesn’t feel good. I don’t want to be seen.” She said. She made herself a bit smaller and grabbed her long hair, pulling it in front of her face. “ I don’t--I’m not supposed to be. But I’m here anyways, and it doesn’t make sense.” 

Jon knelt down and put out a hand, and gently touched her shoulder. She didn’t flinch, that was a good start. 

“You know, you are a human, and you have..and you have a body.” He started to speak. “It's not--its not a bad thing, to be seen, sometimes. But I should have let you know.” 

“...So you weren’t watching because I was bad?” She asked hesitantly. 

“No, no, you aren’t bad.” He said emphatically. She was actually a very rather well behaved and polite girl. She’d even shown some signs of empathetic development, which would be useful if they wanted to encourage her latent humanity. “I was watching because I was...concerned. I wanted to make sure you were okay, that you were safe.”

The little girl stared at him, her eyes were glassy and cold. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling to have her attention, but he hid his discomfort as best he could. 

“ **The Watcher doesn’t care, It only watches**.” She said in a low voice. Jon felt a low amount of energy emanate from her. Dangerous energy, but very little, probably all that her fragile human body could maintain.

He’d have to be very very careful. 

“Well, I’m not the Watcher.” Jon answered quickly. “I care about your safety, and want you to be happy.” God, he was definitely making everything worse, now. Why would she believe him?

The strange energy around the girl seemed to vanish at that. Her face seemed to change, as she stared at him with a...smile. 

He hadn’t seen her smile before. The uncanny effect of her presence seemed to soften as she looked at him with that little smile and expression of...affection. 

“So you...you like me? You don’t think I’m bad?” 

“Of course I like you, you’re very likable.” Jon answered. He looked at the box of records, then at her. “You see those records, I am sure. We could unpack them together, if you like.” He worded his request carefully, avoiding questions. If she felt uncomfortable with Watching, then accidental compulsion would definitely be worse. He took one out of the box and held it out to her. “ This one’s the Beach Boys, I don’t know...anything about them, offhand.” He'd been suppressing his Knowledge ever since they ended the apocolypse and got their happily ever after, so if he did want to know more, he'd have to ask Martin, or maybe even google it, now that google was a thing again. 

She stared at it and leaned forward, looking confused, and tried to bite into it. He pulled his hand back just in time. “Jesus Christ.” 

“I don’t know anything about it.” She repeated his earlier sentence in that exacting way.

“Right. Well, records aren’t food.” He said. He held up the record. “Actually, this is an LP record, and those are.…” His eyes rolled back slightly as the Knowledge overtook him. **“The LP (from "long playing"[1] or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by a speed of 331⁄3 rpm, a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter, and use of the "microgroove" groove specification. Introduced by Columbia in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound, it remained the standard format for record albums until its gradual replacement from the 1990s to the early 21st century, first by compact discs and then by streaming media…”**

The little girl stood, head turned to the side slightly, as she listened and watched her guardian be temporarily overtaken by the knowledge of whatever he was talking about.

She picked up a small cardboard box, sat down on the floor, and started tearing off pieces and eating them as a snack while she watched her guardian drone on. 

Maybe she was Watched sometimes, and that wasn’t fun, but maybe, it would be nice to stay here a while, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Spooky dad and Spooky daughter rights!!!!


End file.
